Did you know?
Ever since there have been daring filmmakers willing to cast light upon shadow, there have been Fayette County entrepreneurs eager to distribute their wares — and local audiences with an unfailing appetite to digest them.
Back in July of 1976, when the Uniontown Morning Herald and Evening Standard published its special Bicentennial Edition (for the country and, of course, for Uniontown), there was a feature with the headline “Oldtime Theaters.”
While the State and Manos theaters were the two most recent downtown Uniontown movie houses, that 1976 article listed many more places where local residents could see their favorite film stars dating back to the early days of the 20th century. Uniontown had (at one time or another): the Vic; the Tex on West Main Street; the Imp and the Lyric on East Main Street; Dreamland and the Bijou on Morgantown Street; the West End, which, according to the article, was the base of the VFW Home; and the Dixie (which would later be called the Capitol) at Peter and Pittsburgh streets. But the most prominent, and lasting, Uniontown showplaces were the State and the Penn theaters.
The Penn, which was located at the corner of Main and Beeson Streets, opened on Nov. 16, 1914, with the showing of the silent Italian film “Cabiria.” It would later be called “the finest picture theater in Pennsylvania west of Philadelphia,” even while it was located nearly next door to that other grand movie house The State Theatre.
In May of 1920, the Penn installed a $20,000 pipe organ, but that innovation would soon find competition. The light, shadow and the sounds coming from that fancy organ were about to be accompanied by something the film industry had been trying to achieve for decades — sound.
On Oct. 6, 1927, Warner Bros. premiered a monstrously successful film featuring crooner Al Jolson, titled “The Jazz Singer.” Film patrons flocked to witness the new spectacle in record numbers. Soon, movie theater owners everywhere were rushing to refit their palaces to welcome Hollywood’s “talkies.”
“Gala Opening, New Penn Theatre, At The Crossroads Of Fayette County,” said the first page of the eight-page special “Souvenir Edition” of the Morning Herald on May 11, 1929.
The owners of the Penn Theatre had invested $2 million in updating the theater and installing a new sound system. It was reported that day that even Al Jolson’s personalized introduction (on film) would be part of the upcoming festivities when the theater would reopen two days later.
“Coquette,” which was Mary Pickford’s first “all-talking picture,” would be the feature film that night.
“Record crowds at the new Penn,” red the front-page headline that greeted the readers of the Morning Herald the morning following that May 13 opening.
“Thousands of theatergoers yesterday were delighted, if not a bit dazzled, by the magnificence of the new Penn Theater and the complete change of entertainment policies,” the lead paragraph read.
It was hoped, perhaps, that the two ornate downtown showplaces — the State and the Penn — would always attract eager audiences to downtown Uniontown. That didn’t happen.
The Penn housed a barber shop with a bowling alley in its basement. And on its first floor there was a cigar store and Uniontown’s first delicatessen store. But its main attraction was an auditorium which would grow in popularity for movie-loving youngsters who’d spend their Saturday mornings fixated on the Penn’s screen while a variety of action heroes delighted them. Yet, within decades it would be shuttered.
Television, which gained increasing popularity after WWII, had begun to take its toll on movie theater box office receipts across the country.
“We understand that the popcorn and candy bars of tomorrow will have noiseless wrappers that can be opened and discarded without making distracting noises in a theatre,” wrote Evening Standard staff writer Ralph Shulze in January of 1961.
“They would have come in handy about 30 years ago when the old Penn Theater in Uniontown was at its height. Nowadays theater attendance is so bad that the sound of a popcorn bag being opened is reassuring. Makes you realize you’re not alone,” he added.
But TV alone didn’t lead to the demise of the Penn. “Penn Theater Ceases Operation Tonight,” said a headline in the June 20, 1953, edition of the Evening Standard. Listed among the reason for the closure was, according to word from the owners, the loss attributed to “bleeding” taxes.
The Penn closed that night, after showing “Cow Country” starring Edmond O’Brien and the Cold War Thriller “The 49th Man,” but it certainly wasn’t forgotten.
When, in 1966, the James Bond flick “Thunderball” began attracting Saturday morning audiences to the (relatively) upstart Manos Theater, it was written in the Morning Herald that, “Not since the Penn Theater days of 1936, when such cowboy legendary figures as Ken Maynard and Tom Mix were riding high in the saddle, have theaters opened for Saturday morning business.”